Stay
by lrigD
Summary: They'd always maintain it was Nickelback's fault. One-shot, song fic I suppose, BB. Just a piece of mindless fluff.


_**This was honestly written on a whim - I was just looking through some love quotes and talking about some things with a friend, and the first sentences popped into my head, and the rest followed without conscious thought. **_

_**Slight spoilers for 1x15, but I seriously doubt anyone reading this hasn't seen that episode.  
**_

_**I don't own Bones, nor any of the Nickelback songs. No copyright infringement intended (it'd be a lot more sincere if I actually had any idea what 'infringement' is, wouldn't it?)**_

Enjoy!

* * *

"Stay."

The word echoed through the silent apartment. He looked at her, trying to find any signs; of sincerity, of emotional pain, any.

Instead, he just saw a woman. Her eyes shone with uncertainty and turbulent emotion, and yet she was calm. This was not a carelessly uttered word.

So he would.

But first, he needed to know why.

"Why?"

She opened her mouth, then closed it again – apparently not finding the right words to answer his monosyllable question.

"Because I want you to." Disarming honesty had always been one of her strong points – and just as always, he was at a loss for words to form a response. So instead, he nodded, looking her in the eyes. She could be honest, but so could he; and he hoped that, in that moment, she knew what he meant with that look.

She nodded, too, satisfied with this arrangement, and he moved back from the door, hanging his coat back on. Then he stood in her living room, not sure what to do now; it was quite late, maybe she wanted to go to bed –with him? –, but maybe she had asked him for a particular reason, maybe because she wanted to talk, and –

She broke his scrambled thoughts with her voice. He could tell she was nervous by her tone, and he just knew she was trying to hide behind words.

"It's just that it's late, and traffic at this hour is rather dangerous due to the growing amount of people leaving bars and dancing places intoxicated..."

He unsuccessfully hid a smile. "Sure, Bones." He did not believe it; not that he knew the true reason...

But he had hopes. And one of his hopes was that she simply didn't want him to leave, like she had said. Maybe he was right, but he knew she most likely didn't know the reasons – not yet.

"We can finish that CD," he offered, pointing at her stereo. They had been listening to a music album by Nickelback, but as usual they had done more talking than listening, and as such there were still some tracks left.

Once again, she nodded, and he walked over to her stereo, pressing the 'play' button. As soon as he heard the first sounds, a smile broke on his face. "This is a great song," he told her, grinning. "Just listen to the lyrics!"

_This time  
__This place__  
Misused mistakes  
__Too long  
__Too late__  
Who was I  
To make you wait?_

She was watching him with large eyes as he mouthed the words to the song, bobbing his head and down in rhythm. He remembered the last time they'd enjoyed music like that, and how it had ended. But he didn't want to think of that right now; he just wanted to enjoy the moment.

_I love you  
__I've loved you all along__  
I miss you  
Been far away for far too long__  
I keep dreaming__  
You'll be with me  
And you'll never go_

He looked straight at her as he sang the chorus, unable to take his eyes off her. She looked transfixed, her eyes shining and her mouth forming a wide smile. She mouthed along with him, her eyes never leaving his. Without realizing, they were both closing the distance between them, like the other exuded a gravitational pull.

He was dancing around goofily, pretending to drum, just to see that smile on her face again, and to know that _he_ was the one who made her happy.

_I'd give it all__  
I'd give for us  
Give anything but I won't give up _

With the second chorus he stopped singing aloud and quietly mouthed the words along, as did she. He was sure that if anyone were to see them right now, they'd look like fools; staring at each other without turning away, both mouths moving but no sound coming out; but he didn't care.

_I wanted  
I wanted you to stay_  
'_Cause I needed  
I need to hear you say  
That I love you  
And I've loved you all along  
And I forgive you  
For being away for far too long_

The song was drawing to an end, and with a shock he heard the lyrics; did the words reflect the situation?

_Hold on to me, never go..._

The song finished and still they were looking at each other; until the next song started playing, loud and clear. They were silent throughout the beginning, just listening to the song, and still unable to tear their eyes away from each other. He was beginning to feel slightly uncomfortable and wondered if she felt the same.

Finally, he tore his eyes away from hers, feeling naked under her gaze; he turned the volume button up higher as the chorus started.

_No we're never gonna quit  
Ain't nothing wrong with it  
Just acting like we're animals_

He was sure the sexual content didn't escape her, either, but he didn't dare look at her right now. He didn't know what had just happened, but it felt emotional and personal and he thought she needed the distance.

But she stepped closer to him, laying her hand on his as he moved to turn the volume higher still. "It's loud enough," she said, and though she did not speak loudly he could still hear her perfectly well.

He turned back, and she was right there, way closer than he'd thought, basically brushed up against him, and he just couldn't control himself –

He kissed her.

As soon as his lips touched hers, he came to his senses and realized what he was doing; his mind screamed at him to pull back, _don't ruin this friendship_, but then she unfroze and started kissing him back, and he was lost.

Pulling one arm around her, he brought her closer to him while he threaded his other hand through her silky hair, his mind blissfully empty. The music faded to the background as their lips moved together as one.

And then, he felt the tip of her tongue, tentatively probing his mouth; with no second thought, he opened his mouth and he thought he'd die all over again.

He didn't know how long they stayed like that, hugging and kissing and doing things just-partners really shouldn't do – but he just didn't care. Because she felt heavenly on his hips and under his hands, and he thought he'd never get enough of this – just _feeling_ her, tasting her, _finally_ knowing what it was really like.

She was the one who broke the kiss, panting heavily as she removed her hand from his chest –how had it gotten there in the first place?

She looked so cute, so kissable, that he wanted to dive right back in, but her eyes told him that she needed some time to rationalize, to compartmentalize; and even though he wanted nothing more than to continue where they'd been, he also knew they were on shaky grounds.

_And all I need is you  
Come please, I'm callin'  
And oh, I scream for you  
Hurry I'm falling, I'm falling _

Music broke through their stare and she looked around, dazed, until her eyes settled back on looked beautiful, confused and panicked; but at least, she wasn't running.

"Wow," he finally broke the silence. She gave a shaky laugh.

"You can say that again."

"Wow," he repeated, just for the sake of it, and he saw a brief smile on her face.

He didn't know what to make of it. What she was feeling was a puzzle to him; a puzzle of which he missed many pieces. He could see the confusion in her eyes, but he could also see how out of breath she'd been, and how much she had to restrain herself not to resume their previous activities. But he knew one thing: this would change them forever.

Because she'd asked him to stay.

* * *

_**Funny story; I started the story with no knowledge that the song actually contained those words 'I wanted you to stay'... Kind of through me for a loop (is that the right expression). The songs are So far away, Animals and Savin' me, all by Nickelback. I didn't start this with the intention of making it a song fic, but somehow it did... and I kind of like how it turned out.**_

_**I don't think I've ever written a BB-get-together fic before, so I'm kind of nervous, and I'd really appreciate reviews... so yeah. I hope you enjoyed, and please tell me what you thought!  
**_


End file.
